5
Smith College / Smithsonian Institution Internship Program
Research Project Proposal
Name of Supervisor(s): David Haberstich
Department or Office: Archives Center
Museum/Unit: NMAH
Phone Number: 202-633-3721
Email Address: haberstichd@si.edu
1. Please provide information on your research and/or the work of your office:
The Archives Center collects documents, manuscripts, photographs, other visual materials, and audiovisual items related to many facets of American history. Archives Center collections complement the
Museum’s artifacts and are used for scholarly research, exhibitions, journalism, documentary film/video
productions, school programs, and other research and educational activities. The Scurlock Studio
collection contains photographs and business records of an important African American family-owned
photographic studio in Washington which operated from 1911 to 1994. I am writing and editing a
critical, scholarly book of essays related to the studio’s work and its position in social and cultural
history, the history of art and photography, and a variety of other topics.
2. Describe the project (include duties, nature and scope of the work), and indicate any particular
academic background or specific courses needed as preparation:
This project would involve working with the Archives Center’s Glen Fishback collection. Fishback
was a photographer, columnist, and teacher of photography who produced advertising photographs for
photographic manufacturers, including Kalart electronic flashguns, taking frozen-action shots to show
the capabilities of electronic flash. Our collection of his work, including photographic negatives and
prints, correspondence, and business papers (such as materials related to Fishback’s photography
columns and photography school, needs to be processed and described for our online catalog. Subject
matter includes a wide variety of topics, primarily from the 1950s-1960s. The intern would help
organize and catalog the collection, producing an archival finding aid. She would also do some limited
rehousing of the collection and improve its storage environment, learning about archival and museum
methodology. A background in the history of art and/or the history of photography would be helpful.
3. Please describe possible research products an intern might develop, either from the project or the
work of your office, to fulfill the academic requirement of the Smith College Program:
The Fishback collection could yield a research paper about how magazine photography reinforced the
optimistic attitudes of the 1950s in America; the use of nude photography in advertising and editorial use
during the period; history of photographic education (we have other collections involving this topic), or a
biographical essay about this relatively unknown photographer. In connection with the latter idea,
Fishback’s photographer son, with whom I have been in contact, could provide additional information.
There are a number of other photographic collections in the Archives Center which could serve as
inspirations for biographical or critical essays, or studies in social and cultural history as revealed by our
photographs.